At what point did you get a cleaner?

[yellowsubmarineo]

I know it’s a luxury, but at what point can you justify the cost of having a weekly cleaner? Is it a certain level of disposable income/having small children/ both parents working full time etc?

I have been trying to convince myself that we should get a cleaner, however, every time I do, I end up telling myself that it would be a waste of money as I can just do it myself. Am I just being reasonable or stingy?

We both work full time and have 2 children. We have a decent despicable income but I just cannot justify spending nearly £50/week on something I can do (this money currently goes into our savings account).

I end up doing all the cleaning myself on a Saturday (DH does the tidying up and I do the deep cleaning), but it takes up so much of our “family time”, and I go back to thinking about hiring a cleaner.

So at what point in life did you get a cleaner and could justify it?

Why would it be nearly £50 a week?! We've had a cleaner for years, even before we had children, and it's only ever cost us £25 a week (two hours a week). There would be lots of things I would cut down on first before getting rid of our cleaner!

£15-16 seems to be the going rate here (London, zone) and we would need her for 3 hours a week.

Zone 3*

Why don't you try one out for two hours if you can't do three, and see if you find it helpful?

Thanks, I guess that might be the only way to find out.

We have one every other week so at least some weekends are not impacted. £30 for 2 hours and I live in Hertfordshire

We have one once a fortnight for £50 for 3 hours. I used to have a weekly clean but too expensive (and actually too stressful with 4 small children!) I love knowing that everything gets deep cleaned at least once in 14 days because I struggle to get beyond tidying up with 4 little boys. I think I first got a cleaner when my second child was born for a couple of months. Then got a permanent cleaner when my 3rd was born. For me it’s worth it in spades

We got one as soon as we could afford it, well before we had kids.

Would cut out eating out/takeaways etc before cutting the cleaner

When I realised I earn more after tax than a cleaner, and I hate doing it. Upped my hours, got a cleaner, gained 3 hours a week.

Not looking forward to retirement!

Got one when I lived alone pre kids - worked 16 hour days earning good money and no time to clean. Increased hours further and further after 2 kids. Only now have cut back after cutting down my own work - have 3 hours every week and an additional 2 hours every other week. Bare minimum that I can cope with in a 4 bed house with busy lives! Do it - you will not regret it!! £15 an hour is the norm here too btw (zone 5)

For me it’s not about how much money I have but time. Busy jobs and young children, I just won’t clean as well. I could
probably do with the money but I need the time more, my sanity has no price.

We had one probably a few years after starting work. Long before kids. We were both working crazy hours incl weekends often, but had high pay, so felt justified.

It’s not just about whether you could do it yourself IMO. I’m sure there are other things you pay for that you technically could do yourself if you took the time? It’s about whether the time freed up is worth more to you than the money. Sounds like it is…?

North east England here, we have a cleaner every 2 weeks to deep clean bathrooms and kitchen. £27 for 2 hours.

We both work full time, justify the cost by offsetting it against the additional time we get with kids.

Also as a PP says, a cleaner will do a better job and in a much quicker time than I will.

I got one pre-kids. Two hours fortnightly. So I still do mini cleans in between, but it means everything gets blitzed every couple of weeks which as hugely freed up my time. I reached the point of being willing to pay for it when it was a) possible (even if not super well off) and b) I thought do I want to do it if I 'pay myself' the extra money, i.e. if I gave myself the extra £28 every two weeks to spend would that make it worth it - I decided I'd rather pay for the free time.

2 hours a week for £30 is reasonable

We've had one for 12+ years. Well before kids and when both of us were on fairly low wages. I absolutely love not having to spend my spare time cleaning and ditto for my husband - there are many other things we would prefer to be doing. If we needed to tighten our belts the cleaner would be the last to go. £17 an hour here, 3 hours a week

I'm In Australia and a single mum and work for myself. When I had to make the choice of how was my limited free time best spent; with my children, cleaning, giving up work hours mid week to clean or non of the above and getting a cleaner. The cleaner won out.

Two hours a week here. Single parent, 3DC, I work full time and have health issues. So nope, not spending my weekends cleaning in between taking them to their activities/parties etc.

I fantasised and threatened to get one for years.

We moved to a 5 bed/4 bathroom/2 living room/2 staircase house and I was 8 months pregnant. I also have an 8 year old son now, the baby is 16 months.

I nearly fell down the stairs wrestling Henry, said fuck this and booked my cleaner.

She is now a part of our family and even when my children move out, I will never be without her. Easily the best £30 a week I spend.

We are reasonably well off, I suppose but I would sooner do without things to afford her.

When I realised I was considering paying for childcare purely so I could clean effectively without toddler

Paid cleaner instead and went to park with toddler.

I was living on a very tight budget at the time but it was worth the £20pw for the weight it took off me knowing the house would never get properly on top of me.
I justified it to myself with if I was a still a smoker I would have found that and more to fund the habit. Also once I passed my driving test and wasn’t spending £50pw on lessons it’s suddenly seemed affordable!

When people at work ask why I have a cleaner I point out I work FT and have 3DC, I think that's enough justification. We got the cleaner when I returned to work after DC3 (had the DC close together so not really an issue before that, I had my maternity leaves in quick succession). She does 4h a week (we have a big house) and it makes a massive difference to our lives which are very busy with work and children's activities. We pay about £12 an hour in the NE.

When I started working full time. I wfh but have no time to clean unless it's at the weekend. I don't want us to spend our weekends cleaning and so we got a cleaner. She's amazing and we would be lost without her. She does varied hours every week depending on our requirements and her availability. Averages out to £50 a week. Absolutely worth every penny. I love her

We pay £60 / week for four hours. They do EVERYTHING. Clean the house top to bottom (five bed, three bath Over three floors), change all the beds (two singles, a double, a king - they also wash the bedding ), clean out fridge, inside oven / pantry / cupboards. I can leave a list of anything and they’ll do it.

we started using cleaners when we earned more per hours than it cost

The going rate is around 15 an hour. You sound like busy people and if you don't want to spend your free time cleaning it's entirely reasonable to outsource it. The other option is that you save some cash, split the cleaning between you and get it done in an couple of hours at the weekend. I did have a cleaner but with little kids the house was never clean anyway so I stopped, upped the nursery hours a big and use those hours to clean myself.....nursery is much cheaper than a cleaner!